Baroque Period The Genesis of the idea: An art-historical term used both as an adjective and a noun to denote, principally, the style that originated in Rome at the beginning of the 17th century superseding Mannerism. The Council of Trent (1545-63) had strongly advocated pictorial clarity and narrative relevance in religious art and to a degree Italian artists such as Santi di Tito (1536-1603) had responded with a more simplified style which has been called 'Anti-Mannerism'. Yet it was not until the 17th century, with the groundswell of renewed confidence and spiritual militancy in the Counter-Reformation Catholic Church that a radical new style, the Baroque, developed. Rome was the most important centre of patronage at this period and the return to compositional clarity was facilitated by a renewed interest in the antique and the High Renaissance in the work of Annibale Carracci and his Bolognese followers, Domenichino, Guido Reni and Guercino. Their work is characterized by a monumentality, balance and harmony deriving directly from Raphael. Carracci's great rival, Caravaggio, by contrast modified his Classic style with an early naturalism, using for his strongly-felt religious subjects characters who appeared to have walked in straight from the streets, the spiritual meaning of the narrative heightened by dramatically theatrical chiaroscuro. http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm Caravaggio (1572-1610), Amor Vincit Omniac. 1601-02 Rembrandt (1606-1669) Abraham and Isaac, 1634 Bernini (1598-1680), Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, 1647-52 Changes in Europe in the 17th century: Scientific revolution: o Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)- planets move around the sun o Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)- description of the orbits of planets o Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)- inventor of the astronomical telescope o Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - definition of the scientific method o Rene Descartes (1596- 1650) - the deductive approach o Isaac Newton (1642-1727) - combined observation with mathematics o Determinism o Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)- first modern materialist Political Changes: o Age of Absolutism . Monarchy . Noble Status . International character of noble status and monarchy . Absolutism as a political doctrine New forms of warfare extensive use of gun powder The independent power of nobles eroded Centralized governments Accumulation of revenues International competition and conflict- continuous wars Colonialism: Americas and Asia were colonized by the English, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese. Catholicism- Lutheranism Germany and Scandinavia -rise of the middle class values Regional princes embracing Lutheranism- reduce the authority of the church Court life of monarchs Migration of nobles to royal courts Monarchs became a ceremonial figure Elaborate rules of behavior Aristocratic themes in arts The idea of rhetoric The Arrival of Marie de' Medici at Marseilles 1622-26 by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) o The Florentine Camerata (1573-1592) . Giovanni Bardi, Vincenzo Galilei, Girolamo Mei, Gulio Caccini A group of intellectuals, musicians and musical amateurs who frequented the salon of Count Giovanni de' Bardi in Florence between approximately 1573 and 1587. The term has sometimes been extended to cover the group that experimented with music drama under the auspices of Jacopo Corsi in the 1590s leading to the production of Dafne in 1598 and Euridice in 1600. The first to use the term ‘camerata’ for Bardi's circle was Caccini in his dedication of the score of Euridice to Bardi (20 December 1600). Bardi's son Pietro also called it the ‘Camerata’ in a letter to Giovanni Battista Doni in 1634. Only three musicians can be linked securely with the Camerata: Caccini, Vincenzo Galilei and Pietro Strozzi. Caccini, however, testified that ‘a great part of the nobility and the leading musicians and men of genius and poets and philosophers of the city’ convened there, and Galilei recalled that many noblemen used to go there to pass the time in songs and discussions, which, according to Pietro Bardi, ranged over a variety of subjects, including poetry, astrology and other sciences. The earliest evidence of a meeting at Bardi's is in the Diario of the Accademia degli Alterati of 14 January 1573, where it is recorded that the Regent of the Academy, Cosimo Rucellai, ‘sent someone from his household to say that he could not come because he went to the home of Monsig. de' Bardi to make music’ (I-Fl Ashburnham 558, ii, f.3v). Bardi's leadership was undoubtedly responsible for Galilei's research into Greek music and his contacts with Girolamo Mei, who by 1573 had studied every source then known about Greek music. One can easily imagine the excitement that the letters from Mei in Rome stirred in Bardi's circle, culminating in Galilei's attempts in 1582 to imitate the ancient songs in a setting of the lament of Conte Ugolino from Dante's Inferno (xxxiii, 4–75), and in his Lamentations and responsories for Holy Week, all now lost. Caccini mentioned having first performed three songs for the Camerata, Perfidissimo volto, Vedrò il mio sol and Dovrò dunque morire, in a manner of ‘speaking in melody’ and treating dissonances passing over a held chord with ‘a certain noble carelessness (‘sprezzatura’)’. Two important manifestos issued from Bardi's Camerata, a discourse by Bardi addressed to Caccini (c1578) and Galilei's Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna (1581). They have a number of principles in common, understandably, since they both derive from Mei: the ancient tonoi should be imitated, because they allow the affections of the texts to be expressed by the appropriate range of the voice; only one melody should be sung at one time, counterpoint being useful only for assuring fullness of harmony in the accompaniment; and the rhythm and melody should follow carefully the manner and speaking voice of someone possessed of a certain affection. Galilei, in addition, propagated Mei’s theory that the ancient Greek dramas were sung continuously, a belief that is reflected in the prefaces of Rinuccini, Caccini and Peri to their editions of the poetry and music for Euridice. www.oxfordmusiconline.com Reaction to renaissance polyphony- Return to the classical ideals Doctrine of Affections Affection c.1230, "an emotion of the mind, passion, lust as opposed to reason," from O.Fr. affection, from L. affectionem (nom affectio) "inclination, influence, permanent state of feeling," from affec-, stem of afficere "to do something to, act on" (see affect (n.). Sense developed from "disposition" to "good disposition toward" (1382). Affectionate in the sense of "loving" is from 1586. http://www.etymonline.com/ Both valid for instrumental and vocal music, to express wide range of feelings strongly Composers sought compositional methods to express the affections such as rage, excitement, grandeur, heroism, mystic exaltation Rather than expression of personal feelings, expression of objective reality- represent affections in a generic sense The normal forms of objects were distorted for the sake of the intensity of the artists’ vision (See extacy of Saint Teresa) Dissonance, seconda practica(NAWM 66) Monteverdi (1567-1643)-Artusi discussion NAWM 66 Pastorale: Main dramatic poetry in Italy during the mid 16th century. * Lyric in substance, dramatic in form, intended for reading and stage action * Attraction is not in the plot but in the mood. Charm of language and voluptuous imagery is the essence of the Pastoral idea * Most important poet, Tarquato Tasso. Tasso, Torquato (1544–95) Italian poet and prose writer. He was a member of the Court at Ferrara from 1565. His masterpiece, Jerusalem Delivered (1575), an epic on the First Crusade, became a model for later writers. © World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. * Rinuccini (librettist of very first operas) is a follower of Tasso Seconda Practica – to reflect the bitterness of love – usage of dissonances 1600 –Of the Imperfections of Modern Music – Giovani Maria Artusi The word painting inclines to more generalized expression (mostly through harmonic color) rather than graphic word painting The idea of monody Basso continuo The new counterpoint Free declamatory melodic line – relation with the meaning of the word “baroque”- Doctrine of affections – The difference of the contour of musical lines, compare Palestrina, Josquin’s or even late madrigal melodic lines with : Gulio Caccini (1550-1618), Le Nuove musiche (1590), idea of solo madrigal . Le Nouve Musiche: There 3 major types of monody in this collection –all emerged from 16th century solo singing that depend on improvisation (either partially improvised or whose true soloistic character is not presented in notation) 1-Solo Madrigals: Caccini’s principal innovation: to mold the contours and rhythms of the melodic line more close to the poem and write out the melismas that had been improvised earlier. 2- Strophic Canzonettas: All stanzas have the same rhyme scheme and pattern of line- lengths. The same music is sung for each stanza. 3- Strophic variations: Music is variated in each stanza while maintaining the same bass line and harmonies- rather than canzonettas ottava rima can be used. Romanesca pattern is also frequently used. Monody- spezzatura (non-challenging style)- nobility The Secular Songs in the early 17th century of the Italian Nobility: The Geography of Florentine monody by Howard Mayer Brown: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3126293 The Medici Grand Duke instructed his agent: find a boy with a beautiful voice and good grace in singing with embellishments in the Neapolitan manner – John Walter Hill Scipione de Palla from Naples – Caccini learned from him the noble style of singing – “midway between singing and reciting” – foreshadowing Peri’s recitative –accompanied by five string guitar- foreshadowing basso continuo The differences between the written and performed music. Canzonet: also called canzonetta , Italian canzonetta , Italian plural canzonette form of 16th- century (c. 1565 and later) Italian vocal music. It was the most popular of the lighter secular forms of the period in Italy and England and perhaps in Germany as well.